No Bombast (for Now) as Toronto Mayor Comes Back

OTTAWA — Rob Ford, his trousers eight sizes smaller, returned to his remaining duties as mayor of Toronto and his re-election campaign on Monday, about two months after abruptly leaving town for a drug and alcohol rehabilitation program.

While away for treatment, Mr. Ford, who has acknowledged smoking crack cocaine as well as frequently being in “drunken stupors,” still managed to add to the long list of controversies surrounding his name. And, similarly, his return to his much diminished powers appeared to be more tumultuous than triumphant.

While even Mr. Ford’s opponents are unwilling to dismiss the possibility that he might be re-elected in October, the mayor’s history of breaking promises to improve his personal behavior now challenges his credibility.

During a 17-minute news conference, in which he did not answer questions, Mr. Ford addressed that issue after again apologizing for his behavior and promising to abandon his old ways.

“My top priority will be rebuilding trust,” Mr. Ford said as he read from a prepared statement. “Rebuilding trust with the public and my fellow members of Council.”

Mr. Ford’s usual bombast was absent. At times, particularly when mentioning his family, he appeared to be on the verge of tears.

But after apologizing to councilwoman about whom he once made vulgar remarks that were secretly recorded, to the citizens of Toronto and to “every single person who is hurt by my words or my actions,” Mr. Ford resumed a variation of his standard campaign speech, highlighting, among other things, his efforts to turn over some garbage collection to private contractors.

Mr. Ford held his news conference in a small room and limited attendance to invited reporters. Among those not allowed in were Robyn Doolittle, one of the reporters who first documented Mr. Ford’s substance abuse; a reporter for The Canadian Press, Canada’s national news agency; and a reporter from Now, a weekly Toronto newspaper.

Mr. Ford’s opponents in the mayoral race, which will be decided by a vote in October, were diplomatically dismissive on Monday. John Tory, a conservative who is more moderate than Mr. Ford, again urged him to step down. “He has massively embarrassed our city,” Mr. Tory said.

Olivia Chow, a candidate from the left and a former member of the federal Parliament, welcomed the mayor’s apology but added: “Will he do it again? I’m not the one to judge.”

On Monday, Mr. Ford acknowledged that he would continue to need treatment. He did appear to have lost weight, however, during his leave. His brother, Doug, told reporters on Sunday that Mr. Ford now had a size 44 waist, down from 52.

Mr. Ford left Toronto on April 30 after journalists at The Globe and Mail reported seeing a video showing Mr. Ford smoking crack a few days earlier — months after his first admission and promises of a new beginning.

Questions about the rigor of Mr. Ford’s treatment began to surface after he started appearing in towns near the private rehabilitation center in the Muskoka region, a popular summer destination for Torontonians, among them the Ford family, which owns a cottage there. Doubts increased when Mr. Ford spoke to a columnist for The Toronto Sun by telephone and said: “Rehab is amazing. It reminds me of football camp. Kind of like the Washington Redskins camp I went to as a kid.”

And then another embarrassing video surfaced. A woman, who had been in the same program with Mr. Ford, was pulled over by the police in Mr. Ford’s Cadillac Escalade on suspicion of impaired driving and arrested. Reporters from a local radio station, Moose FM, made a video recording of the woman telling a clerk at the impound yard that she left her watch in Mr. Ford’s room at the treatment center. Asked what she had been doing in the mayor’s car, she said, “That’s for me to know.”

A version of this article appears in print on , Section A, Page 4 of the New York edition with the headline: No Bombast (for Now) as Mayor Comes Back. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe